Saved by the abaca angels
Inquirer.net, Philippines
GUINOBATAN, Albay–It has been a year since super typhoon Reming (international code name: Durian) brought Albay to its knees.
But, just like the province, entrepreneur Melinda Morante is slowly getting back on her feet.
Morante told the Inquirer that she lost P200,000 worth of handicrafts when flood waters swept into her stalls in the Guinobatan public market and another P500,000 when the floods ruined her inventory at the height of the typhoon in November last year.
But rather than give up on her trade, she went back to it with a vengeance.
She was encouraged by the thought that many families were depending on her for their livelihood, especially at that time when everybody was reeling from one of the strongest typhoons to hit the province.
Morante said her immediate problem was to look for raw materials because the typhoon extensively damaged Albay’s abaca plantations. She had to go to Samar, Leyte and as far as Sultan Kudarat to get the abaca that she needed to produce her handicrafts.
This meant an increase in production costs because raw materials had to be brought in from other provinces, but Morante was determined to forge ahead.
“I thought then that if I stopped, I would not have any chance of a recovery. It was better to try and not give up,” Morante said in Filipino.
Rebuilding from scratch
She asked her more than 40 artisans to resume work. Instead of asking them to stay in her production house in the town proper of Guinobatan, her workers now stay at home so they can take care of their family’s needs as they weave the abaca products that Morante sells.
Rebuilding her business practically from scratch reminds Morante of how she got started in the business in 1988 with a capital of just P5,000 from her own savings.
Morante, a midwife by profession, was inspired to put up her own business because she felt she needed to provide her neighbors in Brgy. Maguiron with an alternative source of income.
Morante said that since an estimated three of five Albay residents are involved somehow in the handicraft industry, going into handicrafts seemed the best step to take even if she herself knew little about the trade.
But what she lacked in technical skills she made up for in creativity.
She had a lot of designs on her mind that she asked others to execute.
Her first products were butterflies made of abaca and wire that she got six women to weave and put together.
“Fortunately, there was an exporter based in Daraga who saw my butterflies and ordered P3,000 worth of them. That became my first big order and that led to more,” said Morante, who is in charge of product design.
More production, however, required capital.
Since Morante could not spare any more, she got an initial P1,500 loan from the Alternative Systems for Community Development Foundation Inc., a project partner of the Peace and Equity Foundation.
That helped her meet her order and produce more products.
From butterflies, she expanded to making abaca angels of different sizes, and then to bags, mats, slippers, packaging materials and Christmas decorations.
Morante likewise experimented with more materials. From just abaca, she now incorporates other indigenous materials to her craft, such as raffia, buri, seagrass and water lilies.
Her business grew steadily as orders poured in and this allowed Morante to fulfill her initial objective to help her neighbors. From the P1,500 loan, she is now eligible to get P30,000 from Ascode because she has proven herself in business.
From the first six workers, the 55-year-old now has over 40 and she is transferring her skills to other entrepreneurs involved in handicrafts through the Samahang Pagkakaisa ng Maguiron and the Guinobatan Small Entrepreneurs Association.
The groups, which are also assisted by Ascode and PEF, are involved in policy implementation and planning to help the microentrepreneurs grow their business through microfinance.
“Everybody knows how to weave but very few have marketing and business sense. So what we are trying to do is to improve their skills and move them from just selling raw materials to producing semi-processed goods and finished products so they can earn more,” Ascode executive director Jose Romero said in Filipino.
Morante also said that she and the other handicraft producers of Guinobatan are getting much needed product exposure through the various trade fairs organized throughout the year by PEF, the latest of which will be the Social Development Week from Dec. 3-6 in Manila.
SDW is an annual event hosted by the Caucus of Development NGO Networks in partnership with the Peace and Equity Foundation to encourage the public to appreciate and patronize the products of groups helped by nongovernment organizations.
Morante said the exposure in trade fairs keeps her in touch with product trends so she and her colleagues from Guinobatan can improve their product offering and remain competitive in the market.
They have to because Guinobatan is counting on their success.
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